John: It is up to you to believe or not to believe in what I am saying. I have nothing to lose. 🙂
So, you said that we should not believe what is said by the government. If they’re just mere stating it, of course I will not believe them. But the thing now is that they are actually performing it and all of what I have say is evident in people’s eyes. Even if I am really blind and am fooled by what my eyes sees, evident reports and articles which are published in websites which are supposed to be pro-opposition and anti-BN has suggested that what I am saying is true. There are articles that talk about the bad of the government but many are just talk but no evidence. Of course there are some which have evidence such as our prime minister’s inability to successfully carried our certain promised reforms. Such reports I would believe because it is evident that those promises have not been met. What I am saying now is to look from the point in which those promises have been met and many people are happy about it. Of course we Malaysians especially are not satisfied and will always look for reasons to critise the government. But nonetheless, we should commend on what he has successfully done, but not getting laid back but keep on pushing him to make sure our other reasonable demands are also being met. If these evidences are not to be believed, then what should I and the other Malaysians believe in? It is like there is a rumour that two people in your family is having an affair: your mother and your aunty. You have a pre-conceived perception that your mother will surely not have an affair with others because she is very homely maybe but your aunty yes because she often goes out maybe. But there is evidence eg pictures and recordings that your mother is having an affair but there is no evidence on your aunty. Do you still want to choose to believe your initial preconceive perception that your mother is not in an affair and your aunty is OR do you want to acknowledge that your mother is actually is having an affair and your auntry isn’t? Its up to you to decide on whether you want to believe in evidence or believe in rumours. I am one which believes in evidence. There are many people who claim they have evidence against BN leaders about their wrong doings. If they really have, why not expose it out or simply put it on the internet. The whole world will see it and there will be no way these BN leaders will run away. So why hasnt these people who claim they have proof done it yet? Is there not a proof that they claim they have? Why continue to wait? Or are these claims and rumours remains as pure rumours?
I need answers to these before I can think about agreeing with your view that BN is the bad guy and the opposition is the good guy. It is like you have to convince me on why 1 + 1 is 11 and not 2.
I am sorry that I do not have the patience nor the time anymore to read the drivel written by this Marc guy. Either he is a BN cyber trooper, an APCO paid PR or he is a very naive, brainwashed youngster or not using his faculties God gave him. He must be blind or living in Mars not to see the injustices and discrimination being dealt out or he is a member of the rent seeking cronies of the BN component parties to be sheltered from all the realities. To believe what ones read from the Government controlled MSN shows the lack of rational assessment of the biasness of such institutions. If indeed he is a naive youngster, then he has a lot of growing up to do.
Stop believing in the artificial environment in Malaysia and come out to the real world. If you are a true product of the Malaysian education system only, you won’t survive in the real world and that is a fact. However, I believe you have had an opportunity to study abroad (given the command of your written English although you fawn ignorance of some words) where either your parents are one of the rent seeking cronies who has sold their souls for position and money (I am giving extremely wide latitude that you are the 22nd YO you claim to be). More than likely you are not the 22 year old that you pretend to be. I always maintain that it is everybody’s prerogative to think that I am stupid but I take great exceptions when they START to treat me as if I am stupid. You may call me Willy but not SILLY.
Yesterdays protest by the minority Indians in Malaysian is not for political mileage or to tarnish the Malaysian image overseas. It is the fundamental rights of the Indians in Malaysia to live equally like the other races; but the Malaysian UMNO led government had systematically denied the rights as enshrined in the the Malaysian Federal Constitution and made all Malaysian Indians except a few cronies linked to political parties were treated like slaves who need to beg for privileges.
Hindraf Makkal Sakthi with the support of the general public applied for a police permit to march from KLCC to Dang Wangi police station to make their police reports to call for the removal of a textbook novel titled “Interlok” which had disparaging remarks about the Indian community added to the SPM exam syllabus although they do not need a police permit in the first place as per our constitution.
The permit was denied on the instruction of the Home Minister. Yet thousands of marginalized Indian poured the streets of Kuala Lumpur
in protest and was badly treated by the police harassing, preventing free movement and arresting them without reason.
The police went after any Indian found on the major streets of KL and try restricting their movement with a show of power & might.
It must be noted that all those who came to the streets to protest were unarmed and non violent.
The police were heavily armed, behaved in a very rude and violent manner.
The pictures and video clips posted online will be a proof to this violent behavior by the police on the innocent public under the UMNO regime.
Reporters were herded to a secluded area to prevent them from covering the event, some reporters from the alternative media were arrested on false charge of obstructing policemen.
The heavy presence of armed police manning roadblocks, spot checks, harrassing only Indians on the streets put the rest of visitors to KL in fear.
The police have cause fear to the citizens of Malaysia. The police have made it look like visiting KL is very dangerous.
All these nonsense must stop immediately and the PM must be reprimanded for being racial in his management of this country.
‘“It shows that negotiations with the government are possible and that the government can bend. They were released because of the effort red shirts put in visiting prisoners and demanding documents from the government.”’
This is a little disturbing. Clearly Thida is not levelling with her supporters as to the ‘real’ reason behind the release, as revealed in Jim’s recent post. It is not the government that ‘bent’, but rather the UDD – agreeing to promote a certain Thai-style democracy in return for release of the seven (plus one) prisoners. It worries me that the Red Shirt leaders are resorting to spin and misinformation when addressing people who take their word on good faith. This seems to me to be another form of paternalism which is so rife throughout Thailand and doesn’t contribute to people having ‘open eyes’.
On another front, it is striking how the political prisoners have become mere pawns in the regime’s political games – political tools whose release can act as ‘sweeteners’ of ‘deal-makers’ for the government. Given this, it seems naive that Thida talks about the role of the UDD in gaining their release. They will be released when it is convenient and beneficial for the regime. Just another example of how those in power have learnt well from their Burmese neighbours. And it would be better if Thida said as much to those who come out to support her.
Greg: I really do understand where you are coming from. If I am in a position anytime before 2008, I will definetely be a strong supporter of the opposition. But I am one who looks forward to the future and not the past. 🙂
And of course I care very much for values such as freedom of press, freedom of association, equality, affirmative action for the poor. However, a good government is one which is strong and are not easily blow away by the wind. Even with all the past bad record of BN, they are the only coalition which shows stability. We the public want a change in how the country is run. The BN government after a strong wind blown by the opposition is now taking fast actions to remedy all the necessary areas that require immediate attention. This is something which is really good.
Btw, there is actually affirmative action for the poor too. Many poor non bumiputeras have also got some help from the government. The only problem in the past is that the government had been giving too much to particular lot of bumiputeras. Such actions if done in the current modern times will definetely become a public immediate attention issue and therefore is less likely to happen in the future. Most importantly, the government efforts are not channeled directly to the poor in general and not towards a particular race, as ‘suggested’ by our prime minister’s intention and new economic policy direction.
Many of us are not philosophers n economics or governance but what we as normal citizens of Malaysian wants is to see good things that will benefit us. If things are not good and do not benefit us and instead put us in a more difficult situation, we are certainly to rebel against the government. Therefore, a good government is one which caters to these issues. In terms of freedom, it is definetely not as free as the other countries. The issue of sensitivity is still quite strong in this country and therefore freedom restraints may still be required, if not, a major fighting will occur between the majorities and the minorities and in the end, the whole country will suffer. Restriction of freedom pertaining to the issue of sensitivity is still required in my opinion, but there is certainly a need for freedom in every other stuff that is less sensitive eg movies and etc.
I am one who will support who is doing the most good currently and for the future. 🙂
I do hope that members of Malaysia’s opposition parties are reading your arguments.
On a personal note, Marc, I’m still intrigued that you find BN favourable – despite 53 years of a deteriorating track record and quick to judge the opposition, who has been in power for no more than 4 years and whose efforts to reform the country has been blocked and undermined by BN.
It is because of a strong opposition that has sent BN scrambling to implement these policies.
Also, don’t you believe in values such as freedom of press, freedom of association, equality, affirmative action for the poor (And not based on race), etc. [Malaysia is not considered a fully functioning democracy in any international assessment]
Once again, while, I often hear, views such as yours, it never fails to confound me, why intelligent people continue to support BN despite its track record and quick to judge the opposition.
Another food for thought: Two parties are showing intentions and have already put into actions that they are changing and fighting for the people’s cause. However, one has a bad history record but the other is currently making a bad history record. Which party would you support? 🙂
CLee: There is no such thing as no point in explaining. It is because of such ignorance that the people’s understanding of good governance still remains in the dark.
I am not brainwashed by any side of the parties. I am merely stating my observations of what I see and what I have experienced. Things may have changed over the years. It is no use remembering what people has done in the past if they are willing and have already shown the action to change for the better. It is the same case with Dato Seri Anwar. Everyone knows how a fanatic he was when he was deputy prime minister. It was only after he was thrown to jail that he has realised and changed for the better. If we can give him a chance, why can’t we give the current BN government a similar chance. Of course there are rotten apples still in there and there have been actions taken against those who are underperforming. The same is also done in the opposition. But the only difference is that there is much infighting among the opposition but much less in the BN coalition. It takes simple common sense to acknowledge what actions are right and what actions are wrong. If one has changed for the better, he or she should always be given a chance. You have to be fair to all people regardless of characteristics eg race, religion, educational background and in this case, coalition. 🙂
The present Malaysian Govt political parties which has been ruling for the past 54 years does not take into account the sensitivities and needs of Indians when making policy decisions.
Greg: Yes, I do agree that Malaysia is facing a shortage of skills shortage. But many existing citizens with such skills still are not satisfied with the pay they are receiving. These citizens are the ones who ought to produce something that innovative that will contribute a significant lot the economy. But sadly, they are just working and merely exercising their existing skills without trying to further develop themselves and contribute towards innovation. Nonetheless, there are good study loans out there which Malaysians can opt to take up and continue with their studies. However, it is true that the initial education system, which is the primary and secondary school systems, should be dealt with more thoroughly first to enable students to have the required skills necessary to meet the entry requirement of most Malaysian universities – 3-5 credits in SPM.
It is also true that there is high inequality among the bumiputera’s themselves. This is one of the reason on why Malaysians should strive towards tertiary education level in order for them to get out of the low income and unemployment dilemma. However, I do think it is possible for those in the rural area with much less facilities to get at least 3 credits for them to enter into the local colleges and universities as the passing and credit rate for exams in SPM are usually lower than the benchmark of 40%, only grades of A are the ones which are marked up higher to show a certain degree of quality (you will be amaze at how good students these days are when it comes to vomiting out what they have memorize from the notes in tution centers in their exams..)..
It is because of the prior weak administration that I have supported the opposition in the last general election. But what Najib’s administration is doing now is actually something which is making much progress to make good of the long due improvement and advancement of many various issues. Nonetheless, all is not lost for the opposition as we the public are willing to stand by them, provided that they can show it to us that they are more worthwhile supporting than the BN government. Most importantly, they the opposition, should show us how strong and together they are in fighting for the cause of the public and the country and not show us the political dilemma that they have and publicly declaring the take over of the government and have failed to do so. I can only commend the Penang administration for its good governance, but not the rest of the opposition states and their political set up in particular. There are currently more pros shown by the BN government than the opposition. If BN is going to keep up improving and taking concrete actions to satsify the public needs and wants, then I think many people will have no problem voting them in again. Unless the opposition can show that they can match BN’s efforts, in terms of actions and manpower and not money because we understand they cant do that because they are not in power, then the public confidence in the opposition will be dropping more and more as time goes by.
“This is a Daft idea, because there is no way that the summit/amaat regime will allow that now. UDD have in effect allowed itself to be held ransom to the regime. “
Indeed. Several events recently have shown clearly how the amartya works. That it is not obvious to all shows only that “Ta mais koi sawaang muen kow kit”. Yet.
” “To achieve democracy with the king as the head of the state…”
And there we have it.
And yet, if anyone suggested a new Christian church wih the antichrist at the head of it, or if the USA was to have a New Democrat party with Ronald Reagan or George Bush at the head, it would be laughed off.
I must emphasize, as I wrote there, that I don’t think the deal involve a ‘swap’, as suspected by quite a number Red Shirt supporters, between arresting Surachai and freeing the seven leaders. (Thida conveyed this to me, and I believe her on this point.) But it does involve a somewhat lowering of mass rallies in Bangkok (including the prolonged, stay-over-night one as Jatuporn threatened to do at the last rally) and the re-emphasis on the “Democracy with the King as head of state”, and all the other things as Jim very well describes above. (One “small” point that I must disagree with Jim’s description is the “freeing her husband” factor. I don’t think this accounted for the deal.)
The lowering of mass rallies and the “switch” to so-called “election mode” of the UDD also involve something quite troubling, apart from what Jim already says. I can confirm from unquestionable source that the UDD’s on-line TV, the Asia Update, has ordered its staff NOT to put reports of Red Siam rallies to demand Surachai’s release and the abolition of LM law these past few days on air. I also heard that there are other actions to exclude Red Siam activities in the provinces from the UDD there too. Jakkrapob Penkae had a “phone-in” to a Red Siam rally at a Bangkok outskirt location last night, appealing to the UDD not to “р╕Вр╕▒р╕Фр╕Вр╕▓” (obstruct) Red Siam activities.
Malaysia is facing a severe skills shortage problem. This is due to poor quality education. Read the New Economic Model which identified this as a serious bottleneck.
Our poor quality education and misguided affirmative action has led to severe unemployment especially among Bumiputeras.
There are many independent observers that have clearly mentioned the failures of Najib’s reforms.
Malaysia also faces serious inequality, ironically highest among the Bumiputeras. After 40 years of affirmative action, and the community that is supposed to benefit from it has the highest inequality. This is clearly the case of those right at the top (UMNOputras) creaming of the wealth and then they conveniently blame the Non-Malays.
And like in Indonesia and Thailand (and many other countries in the region), the Malaysian Chinese, eventually gets blamed and killed (like May 13, 1969) to solve the Malay problem.
Do you seriously want to support a government that behaves in this manner?
CLee: Could you please enlighten me on the meaning of ‘tour de force’ and also ‘budding BN politician’? My english is not that good and i’ve tried googling it up but still do not quite understand the meaning. 🙂
My principle is that we should always commend what is evidently good and always criticise what is evidently bad. 🙂
neptunian: Here are some of my thoughts about your points. 🙂
1. Security: Yes, I do agree that there are public roads which have been barricaded off by residents due to security concerns. But if you were those residents and have spent so much money setting up the fence and building the guard house, and you have noticed that the overall crime rate has decreased, would you then demolish the guard house and remove the fence? I think most residents would just leave the fence there just as an additional security measurement. Evidence has shown the dramatic decrease in public crime rate too. Of course you cannot expect zero crime rate as there will always be crime lurking around regardless of how much effort there is to deter crime. And yes, Malaysia is indeed working towards being a developed country. Those around my age and those younger than me are the future generation of this country. People like me strive hard to get a good education and hope to contribute towards the progress of this country. While some might decide to go overseas to earn the higher wages and avoid the responsibility to make the ‘supposed high degree of unfairness’ right, there are many who still reside in Malaysia hoping to make a change when the time comes for us to lead the country. Gone were the days where one who was an office boy is able to become a minister.
2. Price support: I do agree again on Malaysians should be making a lot higher wages. But you have to understand that even though they have the necessary skills, they are still not producing the additional spark and achieving results that enable them to earn as much as companies pay overseas i.e. their results have not pushed GDP growth to the desired growth percentage as yet. Nonetheless, there are actually many jobs that have started giving employees very high wages in Malaysia currently. Many fresh graduates have a starting salary of at least RM3000 – typically those in IBM and Accenture (I have friends who have showed off their 1st pay slip with such salaries to me). It is indeed a much higher starting salary than what other countries are paying their fresh graduates, if you do not consider the currency exchange rate.
3. Petrol price – Well, I am not too sure about this. But what I do know is that 40% of the Malaysian economy is obtained through oil. So if Malaysians were to use their own oil for their own consumption to make oil prices lower, then we might well have to accept a decline of growth progress as much as 40%. Besides, the oil prices are actually quite reasonable in Malaysia. We are being subsidized for it, not like in other countries. The current ron 95 price after it is processed is selling for RM1.90 in Malaysia. If you say this is not reasonable enough, then what price do you think will be most reasonable which balances affordability to citizens and economic growth?
4. In terms of discrimination, can you please point out in what way discrimination happens. Of course I do know about some discrimination, but I have certainly yet to encounter one as a citizen of Malaysia. Having lived in Malaysia and in the city for 22 years, I have actually not remember a time that I have been directly discriminated for my race.
Nonetheless, I think I would have to disagree with you on this statement ‘a lot of middle class kinds from non bumi families have to pawn house and home to put their kids thru college’. The government has provided a loan called the PTPN loan for all students whose family are at the middle-low income and below to obtain study loans, whereby the loan is only to be repaid after students have graduated and obtained a permanent job. The loan interest is only 1%. So there is actually no reason for student these days for not continuing with their studies. Nonetheless, there are of course parents who have pawn their homes to put their kids through college. But do take notice that these are the parents who opt to send their kids overseas, when actually quality education is actually provided locally – their kids might to go to University Malaya, but they can definetely enter TAR college and all the other local colleges provided they meet the entry requirement. They can opt for these local ones like TAR and UNITAR if they do not want to take a big loan amount and burden themselves with study loan repayments when they start to work. On the other hand, opportunities for a bigger loan from PTPTN (government) is still possible if you decide to go for private local colleges such as Taylor’s, INTI, SEGi, Sunway and etc. So, I really do not see the point to mortgage their houses away. In fact, parents have actually encouraged their children to take these loans and only give their kids little monthly allowance for their daily expenses. So, imagine how much can these parents are saving with kids education these days. And is because of such parents that many private colleges have raised their fees exorbitantly, with a goal of trying to get those stingy parents to come out with some money in addition to the approved loan amount to help pay for their kids education.
I hope I have gave reasonable answers. To every story, there are always two parts to it. It all depends on whether you want to accept the positive reasons to it or want to keep dueling on the negative reasons. 🙂
As confirmed last night by Chupong’s interview, and what many us had sensed or heard indirectly, UDD did a backroom deal through the arch-conservative amaat Sanan Kachornprasart to secure release of the 7 core leaders on the premise that UDD promotes the king as head of the state and softens its attacks against the amaat regime. Sanan went to see Thaksin who was put in a position where he could not refuse and he asked UDD to agree to these terms. In fact the first new “Immediate policy of UDD” (under Tida’s acting headship) is “To achieve democracy with the king as the head of the state…” Emphasising the institution’s continuing and real power over politics, Sanan volunteered through the summit to negotiate and also with the governing political regime. No doubt he was duly rewarded.
UDD agreed because they had little choice. Tida wanted her husband out of prison. As part of the deal the seven leaders can stand as MPs as the next election (when/if that takes place). They are happy because most of them were politicians anyway in before the coup and the (il-)logic is that if they win government they will change nasty things bit by bit. This is a Daft idea, because there is no way that the summit/amaat regime will allow that now. UDD have in effect allowed itself to be held ransom to the regime. The 7 core leaders are trying to put a positive spin in public and said that, well, they achieved the first step be being released and being allowed to stand for elections. UDD will not go far with the masses. Remember Nuttawut’s poetic reference to the “sky”? This is why people went over to listen to UDD core leaders on stage en masse at Sanam Luang four years back. People were then starting to become “taa sawaang”. They can be no going back.
Everyone is concerned that they were losing people to Daeng Siam who alone now keeps the focus on core structural cultural and social issues. Students are taking over the Daeng Siam stage and are fearless. Both male and female students refer to themselves on stage by the name “Surachai… [followed by their own names]”. The calls from Daeng Siam are (a) release all political prisoners, and (b) abandon Article 112. Meanwhile an overseas academic claiming left-wing credentials (who even suggested the falangist Labour Movement could work with Red Shirts!) show jealousy and try to bag the movement at any opportunity. We have to get beyond pettiness if we want to move forward. People will find out later after UDD’ failed compact with the devil that people will again be “taa sawaang” in the millions and there will not stopping the flow towards democracy.
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Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
John: It is up to you to believe or not to believe in what I am saying. I have nothing to lose. 🙂
So, you said that we should not believe what is said by the government. If they’re just mere stating it, of course I will not believe them. But the thing now is that they are actually performing it and all of what I have say is evident in people’s eyes. Even if I am really blind and am fooled by what my eyes sees, evident reports and articles which are published in websites which are supposed to be pro-opposition and anti-BN has suggested that what I am saying is true. There are articles that talk about the bad of the government but many are just talk but no evidence. Of course there are some which have evidence such as our prime minister’s inability to successfully carried our certain promised reforms. Such reports I would believe because it is evident that those promises have not been met. What I am saying now is to look from the point in which those promises have been met and many people are happy about it. Of course we Malaysians especially are not satisfied and will always look for reasons to critise the government. But nonetheless, we should commend on what he has successfully done, but not getting laid back but keep on pushing him to make sure our other reasonable demands are also being met. If these evidences are not to be believed, then what should I and the other Malaysians believe in? It is like there is a rumour that two people in your family is having an affair: your mother and your aunty. You have a pre-conceived perception that your mother will surely not have an affair with others because she is very homely maybe but your aunty yes because she often goes out maybe. But there is evidence eg pictures and recordings that your mother is having an affair but there is no evidence on your aunty. Do you still want to choose to believe your initial preconceive perception that your mother is not in an affair and your aunty is OR do you want to acknowledge that your mother is actually is having an affair and your auntry isn’t? Its up to you to decide on whether you want to believe in evidence or believe in rumours. I am one which believes in evidence. There are many people who claim they have evidence against BN leaders about their wrong doings. If they really have, why not expose it out or simply put it on the internet. The whole world will see it and there will be no way these BN leaders will run away. So why hasnt these people who claim they have proof done it yet? Is there not a proof that they claim they have? Why continue to wait? Or are these claims and rumours remains as pure rumours?
I need answers to these before I can think about agreeing with your view that BN is the bad guy and the opposition is the good guy. It is like you have to convince me on why 1 + 1 is 11 and not 2.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
I am sorry that I do not have the patience nor the time anymore to read the drivel written by this Marc guy. Either he is a BN cyber trooper, an APCO paid PR or he is a very naive, brainwashed youngster or not using his faculties God gave him. He must be blind or living in Mars not to see the injustices and discrimination being dealt out or he is a member of the rent seeking cronies of the BN component parties to be sheltered from all the realities. To believe what ones read from the Government controlled MSN shows the lack of rational assessment of the biasness of such institutions. If indeed he is a naive youngster, then he has a lot of growing up to do.
Stop believing in the artificial environment in Malaysia and come out to the real world. If you are a true product of the Malaysian education system only, you won’t survive in the real world and that is a fact. However, I believe you have had an opportunity to study abroad (given the command of your written English although you fawn ignorance of some words) where either your parents are one of the rent seeking cronies who has sold their souls for position and money (I am giving extremely wide latitude that you are the 22nd YO you claim to be). More than likely you are not the 22 year old that you pretend to be. I always maintain that it is everybody’s prerogative to think that I am stupid but I take great exceptions when they START to treat me as if I am stupid. You may call me Willy but not SILLY.
Malaysian Indians: A sad story
Yesterdays protest by the minority Indians in Malaysian is not for political mileage or to tarnish the Malaysian image overseas. It is the fundamental rights of the Indians in Malaysia to live equally like the other races; but the Malaysian UMNO led government had systematically denied the rights as enshrined in the the Malaysian Federal Constitution and made all Malaysian Indians except a few cronies linked to political parties were treated like slaves who need to beg for privileges.
Hindraf Makkal Sakthi with the support of the general public applied for a police permit to march from KLCC to Dang Wangi police station to make their police reports to call for the removal of a textbook novel titled “Interlok” which had disparaging remarks about the Indian community added to the SPM exam syllabus although they do not need a police permit in the first place as per our constitution.
The permit was denied on the instruction of the Home Minister. Yet thousands of marginalized Indian poured the streets of Kuala Lumpur
in protest and was badly treated by the police harassing, preventing free movement and arresting them without reason.
The police went after any Indian found on the major streets of KL and try restricting their movement with a show of power & might.
It must be noted that all those who came to the streets to protest were unarmed and non violent.
The police were heavily armed, behaved in a very rude and violent manner.
The pictures and video clips posted online will be a proof to this violent behavior by the police on the innocent public under the UMNO regime.
Reporters were herded to a secluded area to prevent them from covering the event, some reporters from the alternative media were arrested on false charge of obstructing policemen.
The heavy presence of armed police manning roadblocks, spot checks, harrassing only Indians on the streets put the rest of visitors to KL in fear.
The police have cause fear to the citizens of Malaysia. The police have made it look like visiting KL is very dangerous.
All these nonsense must stop immediately and the PM must be reprimanded for being racial in his management of this country.
These protest against human rights will continue.
Welcome to Red Shirt leaders in Khon Kaen
‘“It shows that negotiations with the government are possible and that the government can bend. They were released because of the effort red shirts put in visiting prisoners and demanding documents from the government.”’
This is a little disturbing. Clearly Thida is not levelling with her supporters as to the ‘real’ reason behind the release, as revealed in Jim’s recent post. It is not the government that ‘bent’, but rather the UDD – agreeing to promote a certain Thai-style democracy in return for release of the seven (plus one) prisoners. It worries me that the Red Shirt leaders are resorting to spin and misinformation when addressing people who take their word on good faith. This seems to me to be another form of paternalism which is so rife throughout Thailand and doesn’t contribute to people having ‘open eyes’.
On another front, it is striking how the political prisoners have become mere pawns in the regime’s political games – political tools whose release can act as ‘sweeteners’ of ‘deal-makers’ for the government. Given this, it seems naive that Thida talks about the role of the UDD in gaining their release. They will be released when it is convenient and beneficial for the regime. Just another example of how those in power have learnt well from their Burmese neighbours. And it would be better if Thida said as much to those who come out to support her.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Greg: I really do understand where you are coming from. If I am in a position anytime before 2008, I will definetely be a strong supporter of the opposition. But I am one who looks forward to the future and not the past. 🙂
And of course I care very much for values such as freedom of press, freedom of association, equality, affirmative action for the poor. However, a good government is one which is strong and are not easily blow away by the wind. Even with all the past bad record of BN, they are the only coalition which shows stability. We the public want a change in how the country is run. The BN government after a strong wind blown by the opposition is now taking fast actions to remedy all the necessary areas that require immediate attention. This is something which is really good.
Btw, there is actually affirmative action for the poor too. Many poor non bumiputeras have also got some help from the government. The only problem in the past is that the government had been giving too much to particular lot of bumiputeras. Such actions if done in the current modern times will definetely become a public immediate attention issue and therefore is less likely to happen in the future. Most importantly, the government efforts are not channeled directly to the poor in general and not towards a particular race, as ‘suggested’ by our prime minister’s intention and new economic policy direction.
Many of us are not philosophers n economics or governance but what we as normal citizens of Malaysian wants is to see good things that will benefit us. If things are not good and do not benefit us and instead put us in a more difficult situation, we are certainly to rebel against the government. Therefore, a good government is one which caters to these issues. In terms of freedom, it is definetely not as free as the other countries. The issue of sensitivity is still quite strong in this country and therefore freedom restraints may still be required, if not, a major fighting will occur between the majorities and the minorities and in the end, the whole country will suffer. Restriction of freedom pertaining to the issue of sensitivity is still required in my opinion, but there is certainly a need for freedom in every other stuff that is less sensitive eg movies and etc.
I am one who will support who is doing the most good currently and for the future. 🙂
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
I do hope that members of Malaysia’s opposition parties are reading your arguments.
On a personal note, Marc, I’m still intrigued that you find BN favourable – despite 53 years of a deteriorating track record and quick to judge the opposition, who has been in power for no more than 4 years and whose efforts to reform the country has been blocked and undermined by BN.
It is because of a strong opposition that has sent BN scrambling to implement these policies.
Also, don’t you believe in values such as freedom of press, freedom of association, equality, affirmative action for the poor (And not based on race), etc. [Malaysia is not considered a fully functioning democracy in any international assessment]
Once again, while, I often hear, views such as yours, it never fails to confound me, why intelligent people continue to support BN despite its track record and quick to judge the opposition.
Best.
Amnesty’s silence on lese majeste
Darren
are you saying that the maximum age specified was 25?
amazing, so how old are Ben and the supine board members of AIT?
I assume certain of the Thai elite prefer younger, compliant people to deal with but didnt realise that AI would be a recruiting ground….
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Another food for thought: Two parties are showing intentions and have already put into actions that they are changing and fighting for the people’s cause. However, one has a bad history record but the other is currently making a bad history record. Which party would you support? 🙂
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
CLee: There is no such thing as no point in explaining. It is because of such ignorance that the people’s understanding of good governance still remains in the dark.
I am not brainwashed by any side of the parties. I am merely stating my observations of what I see and what I have experienced. Things may have changed over the years. It is no use remembering what people has done in the past if they are willing and have already shown the action to change for the better. It is the same case with Dato Seri Anwar. Everyone knows how a fanatic he was when he was deputy prime minister. It was only after he was thrown to jail that he has realised and changed for the better. If we can give him a chance, why can’t we give the current BN government a similar chance. Of course there are rotten apples still in there and there have been actions taken against those who are underperforming. The same is also done in the opposition. But the only difference is that there is much infighting among the opposition but much less in the BN coalition. It takes simple common sense to acknowledge what actions are right and what actions are wrong. If one has changed for the better, he or she should always be given a chance. You have to be fair to all people regardless of characteristics eg race, religion, educational background and in this case, coalition. 🙂
Where to now for the UDD?
So are those from the left that supported the UDD beginning to break away from the UDD leadership. Jim says yes while Giles says no.
Malaysian Indians: A sad story
The present Malaysian Govt political parties which has been ruling for the past 54 years does not take into account the sensitivities and needs of Indians when making policy decisions.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Greg: Yes, I do agree that Malaysia is facing a shortage of skills shortage. But many existing citizens with such skills still are not satisfied with the pay they are receiving. These citizens are the ones who ought to produce something that innovative that will contribute a significant lot the economy. But sadly, they are just working and merely exercising their existing skills without trying to further develop themselves and contribute towards innovation. Nonetheless, there are good study loans out there which Malaysians can opt to take up and continue with their studies. However, it is true that the initial education system, which is the primary and secondary school systems, should be dealt with more thoroughly first to enable students to have the required skills necessary to meet the entry requirement of most Malaysian universities – 3-5 credits in SPM.
It is also true that there is high inequality among the bumiputera’s themselves. This is one of the reason on why Malaysians should strive towards tertiary education level in order for them to get out of the low income and unemployment dilemma. However, I do think it is possible for those in the rural area with much less facilities to get at least 3 credits for them to enter into the local colleges and universities as the passing and credit rate for exams in SPM are usually lower than the benchmark of 40%, only grades of A are the ones which are marked up higher to show a certain degree of quality (you will be amaze at how good students these days are when it comes to vomiting out what they have memorize from the notes in tution centers in their exams..)..
It is because of the prior weak administration that I have supported the opposition in the last general election. But what Najib’s administration is doing now is actually something which is making much progress to make good of the long due improvement and advancement of many various issues. Nonetheless, all is not lost for the opposition as we the public are willing to stand by them, provided that they can show it to us that they are more worthwhile supporting than the BN government. Most importantly, they the opposition, should show us how strong and together they are in fighting for the cause of the public and the country and not show us the political dilemma that they have and publicly declaring the take over of the government and have failed to do so. I can only commend the Penang administration for its good governance, but not the rest of the opposition states and their political set up in particular. There are currently more pros shown by the BN government than the opposition. If BN is going to keep up improving and taking concrete actions to satsify the public needs and wants, then I think many people will have no problem voting them in again. Unless the opposition can show that they can match BN’s efforts, in terms of actions and manpower and not money because we understand they cant do that because they are not in power, then the public confidence in the opposition will be dropping more and more as time goes by.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Mr. Lim, Short answer- google it and the answer is all there.
If you are really who you say you are, clearly you have been insulated from many tribulations many non-bumis have been through.
Seeing how brainwashed you are(or if you aren’t one of the powers that be), there isn’t any point in giving answers to a ‘still learning 22 year old’?
If you are hap
Where to now for the UDD?
@ Jim Taylor (15):
“This is a Daft idea, because there is no way that the summit/amaat regime will allow that now. UDD have in effect allowed itself to be held ransom to the regime. “
Indeed. Several events recently have shown clearly how the amartya works. That it is not obvious to all shows only that “Ta mais koi sawaang muen kow kit”. Yet.
” “To achieve democracy with the king as the head of the state…”
And there we have it.
And yet, if anyone suggested a new Christian church wih the antichrist at the head of it, or if the USA was to have a New Democrat party with Ronald Reagan or George Bush at the head, it would be laughed off.
Probably not in Thailand…
Where to now for the UDD?
Some details of the so-called ‘backroom deal’ Jim is talking about is here (sorry, in Thai):
http://www.prachachat.net/news_detail.php?newsid=1298698287&grpid&catid=04&subcatid=0401
Here’s my comments (again in Thai and only on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=185373074833800&id=100001298657012
I must emphasize, as I wrote there, that I don’t think the deal involve a ‘swap’, as suspected by quite a number Red Shirt supporters, between arresting Surachai and freeing the seven leaders. (Thida conveyed this to me, and I believe her on this point.) But it does involve a somewhat lowering of mass rallies in Bangkok (including the prolonged, stay-over-night one as Jatuporn threatened to do at the last rally) and the re-emphasis on the “Democracy with the King as head of state”, and all the other things as Jim very well describes above. (One “small” point that I must disagree with Jim’s description is the “freeing her husband” factor. I don’t think this accounted for the deal.)
The lowering of mass rallies and the “switch” to so-called “election mode” of the UDD also involve something quite troubling, apart from what Jim already says. I can confirm from unquestionable source that the UDD’s on-line TV, the Asia Update, has ordered its staff NOT to put reports of Red Siam rallies to demand Surachai’s release and the abolition of LM law these past few days on air. I also heard that there are other actions to exclude Red Siam activities in the provinces from the UDD there too. Jakkrapob Penkae had a “phone-in” to a Red Siam rally at a Bangkok outskirt location last night, appealing to the UDD not to “р╕Вр╕▒р╕Фр╕Вр╕▓” (obstruct) Red Siam activities.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Hi Marc,
I think your factually wrong on a few issues.
Malaysia is facing a severe skills shortage problem. This is due to poor quality education. Read the New Economic Model which identified this as a serious bottleneck.
Our poor quality education and misguided affirmative action has led to severe unemployment especially among Bumiputeras.
There are many independent observers that have clearly mentioned the failures of Najib’s reforms.
Malaysia also faces serious inequality, ironically highest among the Bumiputeras. After 40 years of affirmative action, and the community that is supposed to benefit from it has the highest inequality. This is clearly the case of those right at the top (UMNOputras) creaming of the wealth and then they conveniently blame the Non-Malays.
And like in Indonesia and Thailand (and many other countries in the region), the Malaysian Chinese, eventually gets blamed and killed (like May 13, 1969) to solve the Malay problem.
Do you seriously want to support a government that behaves in this manner?
Where to now for the UDD?
There needs to be a political party representing the reds willing to make a statement of the principles for which it stands.
Keep it radicle and keep it short.
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
CLee: Could you please enlighten me on the meaning of ‘tour de force’ and also ‘budding BN politician’? My english is not that good and i’ve tried googling it up but still do not quite understand the meaning. 🙂
My principle is that we should always commend what is evidently good and always criticise what is evidently bad. 🙂
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
neptunian: Here are some of my thoughts about your points. 🙂
1. Security: Yes, I do agree that there are public roads which have been barricaded off by residents due to security concerns. But if you were those residents and have spent so much money setting up the fence and building the guard house, and you have noticed that the overall crime rate has decreased, would you then demolish the guard house and remove the fence? I think most residents would just leave the fence there just as an additional security measurement. Evidence has shown the dramatic decrease in public crime rate too. Of course you cannot expect zero crime rate as there will always be crime lurking around regardless of how much effort there is to deter crime. And yes, Malaysia is indeed working towards being a developed country. Those around my age and those younger than me are the future generation of this country. People like me strive hard to get a good education and hope to contribute towards the progress of this country. While some might decide to go overseas to earn the higher wages and avoid the responsibility to make the ‘supposed high degree of unfairness’ right, there are many who still reside in Malaysia hoping to make a change when the time comes for us to lead the country. Gone were the days where one who was an office boy is able to become a minister.
2. Price support: I do agree again on Malaysians should be making a lot higher wages. But you have to understand that even though they have the necessary skills, they are still not producing the additional spark and achieving results that enable them to earn as much as companies pay overseas i.e. their results have not pushed GDP growth to the desired growth percentage as yet. Nonetheless, there are actually many jobs that have started giving employees very high wages in Malaysia currently. Many fresh graduates have a starting salary of at least RM3000 – typically those in IBM and Accenture (I have friends who have showed off their 1st pay slip with such salaries to me). It is indeed a much higher starting salary than what other countries are paying their fresh graduates, if you do not consider the currency exchange rate.
3. Petrol price – Well, I am not too sure about this. But what I do know is that 40% of the Malaysian economy is obtained through oil. So if Malaysians were to use their own oil for their own consumption to make oil prices lower, then we might well have to accept a decline of growth progress as much as 40%. Besides, the oil prices are actually quite reasonable in Malaysia. We are being subsidized for it, not like in other countries. The current ron 95 price after it is processed is selling for RM1.90 in Malaysia. If you say this is not reasonable enough, then what price do you think will be most reasonable which balances affordability to citizens and economic growth?
4. In terms of discrimination, can you please point out in what way discrimination happens. Of course I do know about some discrimination, but I have certainly yet to encounter one as a citizen of Malaysia. Having lived in Malaysia and in the city for 22 years, I have actually not remember a time that I have been directly discriminated for my race.
Nonetheless, I think I would have to disagree with you on this statement ‘a lot of middle class kinds from non bumi families have to pawn house and home to put their kids thru college’. The government has provided a loan called the PTPN loan for all students whose family are at the middle-low income and below to obtain study loans, whereby the loan is only to be repaid after students have graduated and obtained a permanent job. The loan interest is only 1%. So there is actually no reason for student these days for not continuing with their studies. Nonetheless, there are of course parents who have pawn their homes to put their kids through college. But do take notice that these are the parents who opt to send their kids overseas, when actually quality education is actually provided locally – their kids might to go to University Malaya, but they can definetely enter TAR college and all the other local colleges provided they meet the entry requirement. They can opt for these local ones like TAR and UNITAR if they do not want to take a big loan amount and burden themselves with study loan repayments when they start to work. On the other hand, opportunities for a bigger loan from PTPTN (government) is still possible if you decide to go for private local colleges such as Taylor’s, INTI, SEGi, Sunway and etc. So, I really do not see the point to mortgage their houses away. In fact, parents have actually encouraged their children to take these loans and only give their kids little monthly allowance for their daily expenses. So, imagine how much can these parents are saving with kids education these days. And is because of such parents that many private colleges have raised their fees exorbitantly, with a goal of trying to get those stingy parents to come out with some money in addition to the approved loan amount to help pay for their kids education.
I hope I have gave reasonable answers. To every story, there are always two parts to it. It all depends on whether you want to accept the positive reasons to it or want to keep dueling on the negative reasons. 🙂
Where to now for the UDD?
As confirmed last night by Chupong’s interview, and what many us had sensed or heard indirectly, UDD did a backroom deal through the arch-conservative amaat Sanan Kachornprasart to secure release of the 7 core leaders on the premise that UDD promotes the king as head of the state and softens its attacks against the amaat regime. Sanan went to see Thaksin who was put in a position where he could not refuse and he asked UDD to agree to these terms. In fact the first new “Immediate policy of UDD” (under Tida’s acting headship) is “To achieve democracy with the king as the head of the state…” Emphasising the institution’s continuing and real power over politics, Sanan volunteered through the summit to negotiate and also with the governing political regime. No doubt he was duly rewarded.
UDD agreed because they had little choice. Tida wanted her husband out of prison. As part of the deal the seven leaders can stand as MPs as the next election (when/if that takes place). They are happy because most of them were politicians anyway in before the coup and the (il-)logic is that if they win government they will change nasty things bit by bit. This is a Daft idea, because there is no way that the summit/amaat regime will allow that now. UDD have in effect allowed itself to be held ransom to the regime. The 7 core leaders are trying to put a positive spin in public and said that, well, they achieved the first step be being released and being allowed to stand for elections. UDD will not go far with the masses. Remember Nuttawut’s poetic reference to the “sky”? This is why people went over to listen to UDD core leaders on stage en masse at Sanam Luang four years back. People were then starting to become “taa sawaang”. They can be no going back.
Everyone is concerned that they were losing people to Daeng Siam who alone now keeps the focus on core structural cultural and social issues. Students are taking over the Daeng Siam stage and are fearless. Both male and female students refer to themselves on stage by the name “Surachai… [followed by their own names]”. The calls from Daeng Siam are (a) release all political prisoners, and (b) abandon Article 112. Meanwhile an overseas academic claiming left-wing credentials (who even suggested the falangist Labour Movement could work with Red Shirts!) show jealousy and try to bag the movement at any opportunity. We have to get beyond pettiness if we want to move forward. People will find out later after UDD’ failed compact with the devil that people will again be “taa sawaang” in the millions and there will not stopping the flow towards democracy.